Las Vegas Lights FC First Five Signings

Last month, LV Lights FC made a promise to always have at least one player with Las Vegas roots on their roster. I write a bit about how that was a smart move - it would build a great connection with the local audience, and it really isn't a hard promise to fulfill.

Today, the club announced its first five players, all with some sort of connection to the Las Vegas area. While the reality is that the club was always going to have quite a few players that were local (easier to sign because of proximity, etc.), they were smart in that they now look like they went above and beyond their original promise. 

Here are the players:

Adolfo Guzman (@Fitoguzman17)

The youngest of the group, at 21, Guzman is a midfielder who looks like he was been playing most recently at William Jessup University as a sophomore during the 2016-17 season. He grew up in Las Vegas, and attended high school at South East Career Technical Academy. 

Sebastian Hernandez (@dsebas_10)

A 24-year-old midfielder, Hernandez is a UNLV alumnus who looks like he graduated in 2014. Interestingly, the UNLV website lists him as a defender, while the review-journal article has him as a midfielder. He played for Bonanza High School, so he is Las Vegas through and through. He actually went to the tryout that the Lights hosted last month, so it looks like it was a worthwhile exercise.

Marco Cesar Jaime Jr.

Jaime is a 22-year old center back who was born in Las Vegas. Unlike the others on this lest, Jaime has professional experience (and therefore a transfermarkt.com page). It looks like he has spent the last few years playing down in Mexico for Toluca's reserve team, and even got a few shots at playing for the first team in cup competitions. 

Julian Portugal (@portujulian)

Another midfielder, the 25-year-old Portugal is another player who must have impressed at the tryout that the Lights put on last month. He is another UNLV alumnus, (actually listed as a midfielder this time), and before that he played for Palo Verde High School here in town. 

Matt Thomas (@MattyThomass)

Another midfielder (I am sensing a theme), the 22-year old Thomas also went to Palo Verde High School here in Las Vegas. His most recent playing experience came in college as well, at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana. 

Overall, the two takeaways from this announcement is that A) it's pretty cool that these guys get a chance to play professional soccer in their hometown, and B) it looks like those tryouts did manage to unearth a few players that will contribute to the team this season.

Let's hope that their first season gives them a lot of playing time and a lot of wins.